The present invention relates to a video processing apparatus, for example, for printing an attesting photograph of an arbitrary size.
Conventionally, an attesting photograph is attached to an identification card in order to identify a person. Generally, various restrictions are imposed on this attesting photograph because it should be strictly handled. For example, the size is designated and a front photograph without any hat or cap is required and so on. These restrictions are different depending on a kind of the attesting photograph. Specially, the designated sizes are different in every kind depending on its use or convenience.
For example, the size of length and breadth of the attesting photograph of a driving license of motor car is relatively small, whereas the size of length and breadth of the attesting photograph of passport is relatively large. Further, the size of length and breath of the attesting photograph of passport is different in every country depending on administrative or historical circumstances of each country. In the meantime, there was a video printer system for printing the ttesting photograph attached to the identification card. Such video printer system comprises, for example, a video camera, a video printer and a controller for controlling them. This video printer system is systematized for purpose of the attesting photograph and installed fixedly in a booth. The color printer used in such a video camera system is being replaced with a maintenance-free sublimation type printer instead of a silver salt printer using chemicals so that there may be no need to check frequently for maintenance because it is installed fixedly in the booth.
Premising these background, the video printer for printing various kinds of attesting photographs has been in a situation that an individually different setting is reluctantly performed depending on their specifications. In other words, it is impossible for a single video printer to perform all settings for every specification and so there has been no such a video printer to date.
Therefore, makers who systemize the above-mentioned video printer system for the attesting photograph""s use is accustomed to choose the printer in accordance with a specification required by a user. Furthermore, in particular, they used to alter the setting of an existing printer to prepare a custom-made equipment, if necessary.
The existing printer has a print size based on a unique print format. However, since the print format has no degree of freedom, it was difficult to obtain a print output of an arbitrary print size. Typically, various functions possessed by each printer, for example, a screen dividing function was utilized to obtain the print output of the respective required print sizes.
However, with the conventional printer, the print output of a specific print size that is predetermined by the screen dividing function can be obtained, by the print output of an arbitrary print size cannot be obtained even by the screen dividing function. Accordingly, the conventional printer cannot by adapted for the aforesaid print size of the attesting photograph and so there has been a particular inconvenience that it cannot deal with the print size of the attesting photograph of the passport in every country.
Moreover, it is conceivable to perform a processing of expansion or reduction of a picture in the video printer so as to expand or reduce the picture size. However, in the expanding process, other data is added to true data by an interpolation processing. In the reducing process, the true data is decimated for processing. Particularly, in a field of the attesting photograph for use with the passport or the driving license, it is inhibited to process freely the true data or to process a picture at discretion by a government of each country because the reliability of the data is lost. That is to say, there has been an inconvenience that the processing of the picture at discretion inside the printer for the arbitrary size should not be performed.
A monitor used in such a video camera system is usually positioned so that horizontal sides may be longer than vertical sides. A on-screen display which is displayed on the monitor at this time, connected with control for operating the color print is accustomed to e displayed in the horizontal direction correspondingly to this position of the monitor.
In this manner, the conventional video camera system is arranged so that the on-screen display for operation the printer may correspond to only the scanning line direction of the monitor with the long horizontal sides (horizontally elongated). However, in the field of the attesting photograph, those of vertically elongated size are often required. Accordingly, it is a practice that a picture which is rotated by 90xc2x0 in advance and then the vertically elongated picture is displayed on the monitor by rotating the monitor backward by 90xc2x0. However in this case, since the on-screen display is displayed in the scanning line direction, namely the vertical direction of the monitor, an operator is forced to turn his face horizontally. Thus, the on-screen display is hard for the operator to read, so that there has been inconvenience that he cannot operate the color printer smoothly.
Moreover, it is conceivable to provide a new controller used exclusively for controlling the operation of the color printer, which controller controls to rotate the on-screen display so that it may be displayed in a direction perpendicular to the scanning line direction, namely the vertical direction of the monitor. However, this leads to an extension of the control system, thereby causing inconvenience that the configuration and the control thereof are reduced complex.
In view of the foregoing points, the present invention has been made and its object is to provide a video processing apparatus in which the print output of the arbitrary print size can be obtained.
A video processing apparatus according to the present invention includes an imaging means for imaging an object through an optical system to obtain an electric signal through conversion and outputting a signal as a video data, a display means for displaying a picture of the video data in a predetermined picture frame, a printing means for printing the picture in the picture frame of the video data, a print size selecting means for selecting a print size of the picture to be printed by the printing means, a pixel-number determining means for determining the number of pixels of the video data corresponding to the print size selected by the print size selecting means, and a video data processing means for processing the video data based on the number of pixels determined by the pixel-number determining means so that the pixels of the video data output from the imaging means should be in one-to-one correspondence with the pixels of the video data printed by the printing means.
A printing apparatus according to the present invention is a printing apparatus for printing an image based on a source video data on a printing paper and includes a storage means for storing the source video data, a reading means for reading a video image stored in the storage means, a printing means for printing an image based on the video data read out by the reading means on the printing paper, and a control means for controlling the reading means and the printing means so that pixels of the source video data should be in one-to-one correspondence with pixels of the video data to be printed on the printing paper.
According to the video processing and the printing apparatus of the present invention, the following operations are carried out.
If an operator wants to select and set a print size by using a print size selecting means, the operator uses the print size selecting means to supply a set signal data corresponding to a set signal used for selecting the print size to the pixel number determining means. The pixel number determining means uses a control data based on the set signal data to thereby determine the number of pixels corresponding to the set print size by calculation. The pixel number determining means determines the number of horizontal-direction pixels based on a head density of the printing means and also determines the number of vertical-direction pixels based on a transmission system of the video data. The pixel number determining means calculates the sampling frequency from the determined number of pixels.
The pixel number determining means supplies the set signal for the above number of pixels and the sampling frequency to the video data processing means. The video data processing means processes the video data based on the number of pixels determined by the pixel number determining means so that the pixels of the video data output from the imaging means should be in one-to-one correspondence with the pixels of the video data to be printed by the printing means. The video data processing means uses the same sampling frequency, based on the above sampling frequency, for sampling the pixels of the video data output from the imaging means and for sampling the pixels of the video data to be printed by the printing means.
The horizontal and vertical cutting means of the video data processing means cuts the picture of the video data in the horizontal or vertical direction based on the number of pixels determined by the pixel-number determining means, thereby generating the window corresponding the number of pixels on the display means. The horizontal and vertical cutting means of the video data processing means cuts the picture of the video data in the horizontal or vertical direction based on the number of pixels determined by the pixel-number determining means, thereby permitting the picture corresponding to the above number of pixels to be printed.
As described above, the display means displays thereon the window based on the cut signal from the horizontal and vertical cutting means and also displays thereon the picture inside the window. The pixels of the video data displayed by the display means are decimated at a predetermined ratio with respect to the pixels of the video data obtained by the image pickup of the imaging means. The picture displayed on the display means is used only for confirming whether or not the picture is located in the window range set for indicating the print size.
The printing means recognizes the print range of the picture based on the cut signal from the horizontal and vertical cutting means. If the operator issues a command to print the picture, since the horizontal and vertical cutting means of the video data processing means supplies the horizontal and vertical cutting signal to the printing means, only the print data formed of the pixels of the video data corresponding to the pixels of the video data in one-to-one correspondence are supplied to the head thereof. Therefore, when the print size is selected through the print size selecting means, it is possible to print the picture having the proper size without forging the video data obtained by the image pickup of the imaging means.
In view of such aspects, it is an object of the present invention to provide a video processing apparatus which carries out an on-screen display when a picture for an attesting photograph is displayed on a monitor having a picture frame which is long in the vertical direction.
A video processing apparatus includes an imaging means for imaging an object through an optical system to obtain an electric signal by conversion and for outputting the electric signal as a video data, a storage means for storing the video data, a character data generating means for generating a character data concerning control of the video data, a display means for displaying a picture of the video data stored in the storage means and the character data generated by the character data generating means, and a printing means for printing the picture displayed on the display means based on the character data. When the picture and the character are displayed on the display means, the character is displayed with being rotated relative to the picture.
According to the video processing and the printing apparatus of the present invention, the following operations are carried out.
A fundamental function will be described. A video data is output from the imaging means and then stored in the storage means. Then, the video data stored in the storage means is read out therefrom for display. Character data such as a menu screen, a setting item or the like supplied from the character data generating means and used for controlling the printing means through operations thereof are mixed with the video data stored in the storage means. The video data mixed with the character data are supplied to the display means. Then, the video data mixed with the character data are displayed on the display means.
The video data stored in the storage means is read out for the printing operation. The video data read out therefrom is subjected to the gamma conversion processing and the signal conversion for the printing operation to thereby be converted into the print data for three colors Y, M, C. The print data is printed by the printing means.
An operation of the on-screen display using the 90xc2x0-rotation font will be described. When in this basic operation the control of the on-screen display using the 90xc2x0-rotation font is designated, the character data generating means reads out a 90xc2x0-rotation font control software dedicated for carrying out the on-screen display by using the 90xc2x0-rotation font in the on-screen display processing of the basic operation based on the control signal for the on-screen display using the 90xc2x0-rotation font. The character data generating means supplies an address signal based on an address table to a font storage unit in order to generate the characters formed of the 90xc2x0-rotation fonts based on the 90xc2x0-rotation font control software, and reads out the 90xc2x0-rotation fonts to generate the 90xc2x0-rotation character data based thereon.
THe character data formed of the 90xc2x0-rotation character thus formed are mixed with the video data supplied form the storage means. Thus, the picture and the characters for the on-screen display are displayed on the display means. When the operator operates the printing means based on this on-screen display, various control operations are carried out by the printing means.
If the printing operation by the printing means is designated, the print data is supplied to the printing means. Thus, if the operator sets the printing control items based on the on-screen display displayed by using the 90xc2x0-rotation fonts in the lateral direction of the display means which is long in the longitudinal direction, the printing operation can be carried out in the set control state.